The disclosure relates generally to distribution of communications signals in a distributed antenna system (DAS), and more particularly to radio frequency (RF) communication channel reconfiguration in remote antenna unit (RAU) coverage areas to reduce RF interferences.
Wireless customers are increasingly demanding digital data services, such as streaming video signals. Some wireless customers use their wireless devices in areas that are poorly serviced by conventional cellular networks, such as inside certain buildings or areas where there is less cellular coverage. One response to the intersection of these two concerns has been the use of DASs. The DASs can be particularly useful when deployed inside buildings or other indoor environments where client devices may not otherwise be able to effectively receive RF signals from a source. The DASs are configured to provide multiple coverage areas inside the buildings to support higher capacity and better RF coverage. Each coverage area includes one or more RAUs configured to receive and transmit communications signals to the client devices within antenna range of the RAU(s).
The RAUs located in the multiple DAS coverage areas may be configured to provide a variety of wireless services, such as wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), long term evolution (LTE), and wireless local area network (WLAN) and Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) communications services, as examples. In some cases, the RF signals associated with the variety of wireless services may be transmitted and/or received on adjacent or overlapping RF channels. This can cause adjacent-channel or co-channel RF interferences between the RAUs located in the multiple DAS coverage areas. For example, the adjacent-channel RF interferences can occur between one RAU configured to provide WLAN services on channel one (1) of a 2.4 GigaHertz (GHz) band (2.402 GHz-2.422 GHz) and another RAU configured to provide LTE services on an LTE band (2.3 GHz-2.4 GHz). For example, maximum transmission powers of LTE RF signals and WLAN signals may be 60 decibel-millwatts (dBm) and 30 dBm, respectively. As a result, capacity, throughput, and coverage of the WLAN services can be severely degraded by the higher-powered LTE RF signals.
It may be possible to map out all RF bands and/or channels among the multiple DAS coverage areas during initial deployment of the DASs to avoid the adjacent-channel and the co-channel RF interferences in the DAS. However, it is difficult to anticipate every communications service and every RF spectrum distributed by the DAS during the initial deployment, since new communications services, new RF spectrums, new coverage areas, and/or new RAUs may be added to the DAS at a later time.
No admission is made that any reference cited herein constitutes prior art. Applicant expressly reserves the right to challenge the accuracy and pertinency of any cited documents.